Sephora x Tiktok Partnership
Photo: RetailWire / Sephora

Sephora Trains Brands to Become TikTok Stars

Retailers and brands want a marketing presence where potential customers are looking, and that increasingly means establishing a presence on TikTok. Sephora is now helping up-and-coming beauty brands get the most reach and value from the world’s most popular small-form video-sharing platform with a new marketing incubator.

The recently announced Sephora x TikTok Incubator Program will consist of three sessions, two via Zoom and one in-person meeting at TikTok’s offices in New York City, according to Glossy.

Three beauty brands launched through the retailer’s accelerator in 2021. Eadam, Topicals and Hyper Skin were chosen to participate and will attend data-focused training led by three established TikTok beauty influencers.

Sessions cover such topics as building a strategy and using TikTok content to feed into an overall marketing plan. The program will finish with “community creators,” selected by the incubator’s influencers, who will create six pieces of content for each brand. Sephora says the TikTok incubator is not a one-off and will be available to three new brands each quarter.

Sephora’s attempt to build brands through TikTok traffic comes as major beauty and cosmetics competitor Ulta Beauty is gaining ground in the vertical, reporting record sales in its fourth quarter.

By now, some of the biggest U.S. retailers have taken note of TikTok’s ability to reach customers. Amazon.com and Walmart have created programs that reward influencers and content creators for reviewing and promoting their products on TikTok, Marketwatch recently reported.

Despite its brand-building potential, U.S. retailers may be rolling the dice when they devote resources and money to TikTok as the future of the app in the U.S. is still being determined.

The Biden administration is beginning to take a more rigid stance on the China-owned app over national security concerns, The New York Times reported this week. The administration demands that the app’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, sell the app or face a ban from operating in the U.S. The White House has also been negotiating with TikTok to get ByteDance to implement new data safeguards or to seek a sale.

BrainTrust

"Figure out where TikTok users will go when it gets banned, then have a strategy for that platform."

Dr. Stephen Needel

Managing Partner, Advanced Simulations


"The continuing rise of social commerce presents a burgeoning opportunity for retailers and brands. The hottest leads on TikTok today are people and influencers, not brands."

Shelley E. Kohan

Associate Professor, Fashion Institute of Technology


"If one is going to get involved in TikTok now is the time. It is nearing the top of the growth curve. How much longer until the next great thing comes along?"

Gene Detroyer

Professor, International Business, Guizhou University of Finance & Economics and University of Sanya, China.


Discussion Questions

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: How much will Sephora and participating brands benefit from the TikTok-focused incubator? How much should retailers be investing in TikTok, given the potential for a ban on the video-sharing app?

Poll

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Mark Ryski
Noble Member
1 year ago

The allure of TikTok is undeniable, but so is the U.S. government’s (and other governments’) concern over China’s influence on the company behind it and the data it collects on users. The Sephora initiative is interesting and creative, but I would be very concerned about placing too big a bet on a platform that may be significantly restricted or even banned in the future.

Dr. Stephen Needel
Active Member
1 year ago

Investing in anything TikTok related is a terrible business decision right now. Regulators appear to be out for blood and I don’t see that letting up for some time. Instead, figure out where TikTok users will go when it gets banned, then have a strategy for that platform.

Richard Hernandez
Active Member
Reply to  Dr. Stephen Needel
1 year ago

Until it does get completely banned, it is unfortunately a tool used to market products and if you are not using it, you are out of the fishbowl looking in. If anything, this will lead to some next generation app that can accomplish the same thing, just not related to foreign sources.

Ken Morris
Trusted Member
1 year ago

Sephora thinks the $91 billion beauty market is all about TikTok and UGC. We think they’re right. User generated content is a hot topic, and this incubation platform makes perfect sense. But retailers face another challenge: how to keep shoppers from leaving them, mid-session, to research the items on TikTok and elsewhere. Now it’s time to bring UGC content inside the beauty brands’ own online world and keep them on-site.

Regarding TikTok, this is quite a loaded question, considering the current cooling relationship with China. But I would bet that with Oracle playing the peacemaker here by offering to host the app and its data, a resolution is forthcoming. Even if there’s a TikTok blackout, UGC platforms will always be there.

Dave Bruno
Active Member
1 year ago

I think the bigger point in Matthew’s post is Sephora’s incubator strategy. TikTok is merely the marketing model of the moment. Marketing models always change, but the long-term play of incubating and growing brands that can potentially differentiate their assortment and expand market share is, in my opinion, the bigger story here — and a very sound strategy indeed.

Melissa Minkow
Active Member
Reply to  Dave Bruno
1 year ago

Agree! For now, invest in leveraging the incubator to market via TikTok because it’s such an important platform. The strategy and tactics established in the incubator will be transferable if need be.

Dave Bruno
Active Member
Reply to  Melissa Minkow
1 year ago

I absolutely agree, Melissa! The article has me looking for other brands investing in incubator strategies–and wondering why more haven’t done so!

Paula Rosenblum
Noble Member
Reply to  Dave Bruno
1 year ago

I just read my first mention of “Generation Alpha” — those who are just turning 13 — today as fashion influencers. Apart from making me feel ancient, it also signals that there’s a lot we’re going to have to absorb. We were still working on Gen Z (“on fleek,” said Bruno five years ago to a crowd of retailers and analysts who did not understand a word), and Bill Maher has just barely taken Millennials out of his rants. So the market of the moment has ever shorter and shorter attention spans. And it’s changing.

Separately, I have to say I have zero understanding of how TikTok is a bigger threat to our security than say — Facebook. I did hear last night that it can track you even if you’re not on it or if you have uninstalled it. Then the article said “Well, Google, Meta and Microsoft do the same thing but…” I have a “fence” that keeps Facebook from tracking my website activity, and have pretty much given up on hiding anything from Google. But this whole kerfuffle isn’t sitting right with me. What’s wrong for one is wrong for all.

Dave Bruno
Active Member
Reply to  Paula Rosenblum
1 year ago

I actually think that meeting was eight years ago, Paula, somehow! Believe it or not, I was in a similar meeting four years ago, warning retailers to pay attention to this “dance video” app called TikTok that nobody had heard of yet…

DeAnn Campbell
Active Member
1 year ago

Anything that helps influencers deliver better content is a win for all parties, including the customer. And the lessons learned from TikTok will be easily translatable to other platforms should U.S. regulation force a platform change. I applaud Sephora for taking this step to continue to take charge of their brand voice and invest in delivering the best content possible to their end-customers.

Brandon Rael
Active Member
1 year ago

The power and allure of a viral post on TikTok are hard not to pay attention to. It’s clear that the viral app has proven to be a game-changer in authentic content creation, along with changing and evolving what it means to be an influencer in a society that has become accustomed to consuming short-form streaming content.

Sephora and many other brands have cultivated strategies to maximize TikTok’s reach, scalability, and virality. However in light of the U.S. government’s stance on TikTok, it is a risky proposition not to have a diversified social media and digital commerce strategy. It will be interesting to see what the U.S. government’s go-forward stance is considering the China-based elements of the app.

However as a contingency plan, all brands and retailers should be ready if the app is banned by having a much more diversified social media portfolio.

Shelley E. Kohan
Member
1 year ago

The continuing rise of social commerce presents a burgeoning opportunity for retailers and brands because the hottest leads on TikTok today are people and influencers, not brands. As yet, brands are missing out. Retailers have a golden opportunity to figure out how to create revenue from social media and drive future social commerce if they can secure followings like the top individual influencers. Whether or not TikTok is banned from video-sharing is not a concern because a new emerging technology may take its place!

Gene Detroyer
Noble Member
1 year ago

If one is going to get involved in TikTok now is the time. It is nearing the top of the growth curve. How much longer until the next great thing comes along? The life cycle in tech is continuing to get shorter. TikTok is made for stimulation. When will the users get just plain bored?

What is the risk of a TikTok ban? Sadly, it may be high. Politicians on both sides of the aisle are using TikTok as a red herring. Can TikTok collect data? Yes but, please, Chinese spycraft is considerably deeper than this app. Hopefully U.S. spycraft is equally competent.